Daily problems working students face every day

A privileged background comes in handy with a lot of things, including education. With the ever-increasing cost of a college education, having mom and dad pay for school and your accommodation makes a huge difference. Unfortunately, not all students are that lucky, and for the vast majority who isn’t (hey, there!), they have to take out loans and work to support themselves while they finish their studies. Now, working while you study is not the end of the world, and there are provisions made to facilitate this, but it is still a challenge and perhaps one of the busiest and tiresome times in one’s life.

You never have enough time for all the reading

If there is one thing all university students can relate to, it’s the massive amount of reading one has to do. Really, it never ends. Going through the material and texts for the class is essential, but the truth is there are too many materials and too little time. A regular full-time student doesn’t have the time to do all the reading; a working student does not stand a chance. But that doesn’t mean they don’t try, bless their heart.

There is never enough time for anything

In fact, if we’re talking about time, the truth is that there is never enough time for anything, really. Every moment of every day is accounted for, down to the seconds. You get up, run to work, do your shift of 4 to 8 hours, depending on the job, then you run to school to catch your evening class, and after that, you return to your room where you can relax, right? Wrong! Now you have to write 4 essays, read 3 books and study all night for your midterms. You never get to do all of them, so some of that has to go. And who’s making that Sophie’s choice?

You start losing weight

Forget the freshman 15; when you don’t have time to eat, or you’re too stressed to do it, you start losing weight effortlessly. Actually, it becomes a cause for concern. Between covering your hours at work, making it to class and actually studying for school, so you don’t fail all of your exams, eating becomes somewhat of a privilege; a special treat, if you will. Largely done while in traffic or in the middle of the night, while reading a book, eating is rare and far between, which then prompts your mother to make comments about your weight at Thanksgiving. Thanks, mom.

You never sleep

Now, this is a big one – sleep deprivation comes with the territory when you’re a student, but when you’re a working student, the struggle is real, my friend. You become used to being sleepy and tired all the time, falling asleep in class, messing up orders at work and not being able to remember your name because you’re just exhausted. Some would argue that this is a normal state during your college years, but it gets amped up to 100 when you’re also working at least 20 hours a week. Working during college is probably the closest you come to knowing how mothers with newborns feel like, so it does, somehow, prepare you for life, right?

All work and no play

As Stephen King and Jack Nicholson have wisely taught us, all work and no play ends with some bad, very bad things happening. Chances are you will be able to give a very authentic impression of Jack Nicholson in The Shining by the end of your college career because it’ll be all work and no play for several years of your young life. Your social life will be non-existent, but it’s something you have to do. Cheer up, you’ll have time to have fun after you get your degree. If you’re not already dead inside, that is.